


Changes

by Morethancupcake



Series: A new home [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (but only hinted), Adoption, Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, Baby Fic, Baby Peter, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Kid Fic, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Parenthood, Past Child Abuse, Superfamily, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, briefly mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 21:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7138253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morethancupcake/pseuds/Morethancupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve doesn't know what they have. He loves Tony, and Tony loves him, and for a while, it's enough.</p><p>Peter changes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> A small superfamily fic, started on my phone, in the metro on my way to work. 
> 
> Let's pretend the actual adoption process was explained and dealt with correctly, okay ? Okay.
> 
> Oh and before you freak out : rain showers with a flat floor are perfectly safe for toddlers to play in.
> 
> Unbeta-ed, all mistakes are mine (and the autocorrect's). Please remember English isn't my first language before you decide to kindly point out anything. :)

Peter sits in the shower for hours.

Plural.

It starts on Monday, and Steve isn't sure what to do, because he remembers, in the beginning, the wonders of Tony's luxuous bathroom, and the rain shower.

He decides to let it go.

On Tuesday, he pretends he's going to say something.

On Wednesday, he pretends it slipped his mind.

On Thursday he busies himself with the dishwasher and the pile of laundry.

On Friday, Tony just takes the little boy, screaming and kicking and takes him to bed.

"I love you shrimp. I really do. But there are rules in this house, and one of these is : you listen to your dad when he tells you it's bed time, you hear me ?"

Peter yells, and cries and pushes his face away, but he holds Tony's tank top in his tiny fists, holding him close.

"You know I love you. This is it, you're my baby, even when you're a brat, okay ?"

"Okay daddy." He's heartbreaking, snot all over his face, his tiny cheeks red and blotchy.

Tony's eyes widen for a second at the name, daddy, but he doesn't lose time and haul his son in his arms, taking him to the kitchen.

 

Steve stands there, a towel still on his hands.

He's happy.

The bathroom is a mess, and Peter cried so hard he's hiccuping sadly against Tony's shoulder.

Both men are exhausted after a week of work, and there's something looking suspiciously like playdough on his trousers.

It's perfect

 

Tony is the first to break after the bomb they dropped on him. He apologizes after, when the silence between them is too awkward. Steve isn't sure about this, he never really thought about being a father, before, it wasn't even an option with his health, now... Now everything is different. Tony's body next to his is still very new, he isn't sure about anything anymore, so a kid...?

Tony watches him and Steve feels very young, unprepared for the talk.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I can't explain, I can't tell you..."

"You don't have to explain." 

"He's my son. He is. I can tell."

Tony looks older, and scared, and when the little boy walks to him, unsure and shy, Steve watches his life change forever.

 

Steve remembers Howard, vaguely. He remembers the nice man visiting his mother, and it's difficult, sometimes, to wrap his head around it, the yelling, the alcohol, the distance. He doesn't ask, because Tony's smile turns cold, and he knows Tony lies only to spare him.

Natasha tells him pieces, pieces he's sure he shouldn't hear from anyone but Tony, and it sits like burning coal in his gut. 

 

But Tony is nothing like his father. Little Peter climbs into his arms and doesn't let go. He studies everything and everyone, and wrinkles the expensive shirt into his little fists, glaring at them to dare and separate him from the man.

Tony smiles and goes on with his day. He holds conference calls while drawing with Peter. He escapes the office to make grilled cheese and actually eat them at a table.

"He trained for this." Clint smiles, leaning against the doorframe of the break room, watching them dip pieces of their sandwiches into some kind of soup. "Tony Stark staying awake all night to learn to cook for his son. How amazing is this world ?"

Pretty amazing, according to Steve.

 

They are still a couple. Whatever it's supposed to mean. 

Steve doesn't know much about what the future holds, but he knows what he feels for Tony is more, so much more. Tony is his. "Your fella'" says Bucky with a hint of a smile. And yes, that too, but more. So much more.

Tony is a great friend, his best friend apart from Bucky. Tony is his colleague, someone he can share his work with. Tony is the one who never got bored with showing him the ropes, with answering his questions when he was still new, and fresh out of school. Tony is the one who holds him close when the world is too big for him, he's the one who takes care of him. Tony is his lover. Tony is everything.

Peter doesn't change that. 

That's why when the little boy is fast asleep, mouth open and arms thrown around his head, Steve is there, holding Tony's hand. 

 

"I can't explain." Tony whispers. "It's just... have you ever loved someone so much you felt like choking from it ?"

He kisses Tony's temple, his eyes.

 

Peter watches him with interest at breakfast, and after a handful of minutes, he holds out his spoon to Steve in a silent invitation.

 

"He likes you." Tony is watching the ceiling, his heartbeat slowing down under Steve's ear. "He was looking for you tonight, it was pretty cute."

"I'll read him a story tomorrow, to make up for it." To make up for stupid meetings, and endless talks, and all of these things that seemed so important, years ago.

Tony smiles, and they look at each other with fondness, with love. Steve knows it's love. He doesn't need the words, he doesn't need to call Tony his boyfriend, he doesn't need to hold his hand and kiss him in front of their friends.

Love lies in the little things, his mother used to say.

And he's pretty sure of it. Loves is Tony falling asleep holding him to his chest, glasses still on. Love is the matching coffee cups waiting in silence, in favor of more kisses in the morning. Love is Tony's fierceness to protect him, Peter, his team, the world even.

Love is Tony's heartbeat lulling him to sleep.

 

Love become another set of brown eyes. 

If to Tony is was a revelation, to Steve it comes slowly, not unlike a spooked animal. Peter smiles, shy, then one day laughs. Peter holds his fingers when they walk, clumsy, from the nursery to the bathroom. Love is a giggling toddler waiting for his father, hiding his smile under a pacifier.

And slowly, so slowly, love becomes this little boy playing with him on the couch, waiting for the man who'll make them smile both. Tony is their light, he's the one they pretend to fight over for kisses and hugs, he's the one they're waiting for, on a Friday night after a hell of a week. Peter liked his nanny enough not to make a scene during the day, but he's obviously anxious for his daddy to come and finally hold him.

"You miss him, bug ?" Peter nods and resumes his drawing. "I miss him too."

There's still playdough on his files, and he actually submitted his last review with pink crayon on the cover. Bucky smirks at the pictures of Peter on his phone, and Sam pretends to gag at the drawings, and the pictures, and all these things colonizing his office, slowly but surely.

He doesn't care.

 

Friday night used to mean sex. Steve isn't crass enough to mention it, but he's glad when Tony closes Peter's door, baby monitor in hand, and asks him about a bath.

It's strange, and it makes him smile, to compare the Tony people pretend to know, the larger than life persona, the reputation, the rumors, to the real man in front of him, picking up bath bombs and smiling goofily at the shimmery pink water.

"I missed you." Tony whispers, his head pillowed on Steve's collarbone. "Nick and Phil were arguing, and Natasha was pissed at Clint for something, everyone was craky and rude, and all I could think about was my two favorite people in the world here, waiting for me."

"We were." and his voice is stuck into his throat, because Tony loves him, and it's a wonder, and it's amazing.

"I think I might talk to Nick." Their fingers find each other. "About stepping out. About doing less, or something. I have the money to back me up, and it's not that the man hasn't used me for almost nothing over the years so..."

"Me too." Steve kisses his shoulder, his neck, his jaw. He keeps his eyes closed, because it's scary, it's terrifying. He remembers his first days at SHIELD, the awkwardness, the shyness. The want to do something, to be someone. Except it never came, not really. "I want to change, I think ?" His voice is shaking, he is shaking, and he's terrified, because he doesn't know, what else he can do. 

"We'll figure it out." Tony kisses his knuckles. "Don't worry about it, baby. We'll figure it out."

 

Steve hides his tears and he laughs a little, embarassed by his sudden rush of emotion. Tony turns to hold him properly, sending pink water on the floor, ruining the plush mat. 

It's imperfect, and awful, and Steve realizes suddenly this is life, and he wants more of it.

"Marry me."

Tony watches him, bewildered, with bubbles stuck in his hair, and Steve laughs even more, tears running down his face. The water smells like vanilla, and on the other side of the appartment, thanks to the baby monitor, they can hear Peter babbling his day to his teddy bear.

He holds Tony's face in his hands, getting bubbles in his goatee, kissing him again, and again.

"Tony Stark, please marry me."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ! If you liked enough, please leave a kudos, or comment ? It always makes me really happy.
> 
> It's probably time for you to take a break, stretch a little (especially those shoulders, and your face, too !) and drink a big glass of water. Remember : snacks make everything better.
> 
> You can find this story (and me !) on tumblr (if you want to reblog it for example ahem) :
> 
> http://iwanttopizzamanyou.tumblr.com/post/145622010659/changes


End file.
